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Moran was born in Hammersmith to a British father and a Christian-Palestinian mother from Jerusalem.[4][5] Her great-grandfather was the Palestinian writer Wasif Jawhariyyeh, who published extensive memoirs. On her upbringing, Moran said "My Palestinian background has made me interested at a global level. Politics was always at the dinner table, it primed me to engage." Due to her father, James Moran, being a diplomat for the European Union and its antecedents, Moran grew up in various countries, including Belgium, Greece, Ethiopia, Jamaica and Jordan.[4][6][7]

In 2009, before being selected as a Liberal Democrat candidate, Moran expressed guarded optimism about a possible coalition agreement with the Conservative Party. "I think we can work with them. I think it would be stupid not to. But I think we would have to control them as much as we possibly can and get ourselves elected off the back of it," she told BBC News.[10] However, after Conservative Party leader David Cameron made public overtures to the Liberal Democrats, speaking of their shared ground, and the possibility of a centre-right alliance, she stated: "I am left in a state of mild shock at what he just tried to do: make the public believe that there aren’t many differences between the Lib Dems and the Tories and scaremongering our supporters into voting for them".[11]

Moran was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Battersea at the 2010 general election, She told BBC News at the time that "I'm just as sick as everyone else is of how politics has been working in this country in recent years. We need to change the way the system runs and give a voice to those people who haven't necessarily been represented."[12] On her election website at the time appeared her assertion: "This is our chance to build a fairer Britain from the ashes of a government that took us into Iraq, into a recession and into the worst Westminster scandal since the Tory sleeze of the 1990s".[13]

In June 2017, Moran was named as the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Education, Science & Young People in the House of Commons.[15] In June 2017, she used her maiden speech to call for fair funding in schools, and in July 2017 she spoke out against the closure of all of the Sure Start children's centres in Oxfordshire, which took place earlier in the year.[16][17][18] Also in July 2017, she was jeered at for accusing the Conservatives of underfunding a new scheme to provide 30 hours of free childcare for the children of working parents.[19][20] Later that year, Moran was appointed as a member of the Public Accounts Committee, responsible for overseeing government expenditures.[21]

In May 2019, Moran formally announced that she would not be running for party leadership in the upcoming Liberal Democrat leadership election.[22] Moran had been considered a front-runner to replace Sir Vince Cable as leader of the Liberal Democrats following his announcement in September 2018 that he intended to step down from the role.[23][24] The decision left colleague Jo Swinson as 'the clear favourite' to take over the role.[25]

Moran and an ex-boyfriend were arrested and briefly detained by police following a row at the 2013 Liberal Democrats Party Conference that culminated in Moran slapping her former partner.[26] In a statement made in 2019 about the incident, she said "in the heat of the moment, I slapped him because I felt threatened".[27] Moran and her partner were released from custody after charges were dropped.[28]